Meditation and Compassion

Daffodils

A new study shows that meditation can help bring forward the quality of compassion. – Meditate on this.

I think the reason meditation brings forward the quality of compassion is that when we meditate we transcend the mind. The mind is by nature critical; it thinks of things to judge and criticise. When we meditate we quieten the critical mind and bring to the fore the inner qualities of the heart. In meditation we also expand our sense of self. We do not just identify with our ego, but feel a greater sense of oneness with other people.

We have written a few posts on meditation including

Other Recommended Links

  • Alex Shalman shares his experiences of practising meditation in – The Monk’s way to inner peace. As Alex suggests, meditation is not always easy but, if you create a regular discipline it becomes more natural as you progress.
  • Albert from Urban monk shares a thoughtful contribution on Love and Aloneness It is strange that we can spend so much time with other people, and yet still feel a sense of loneliness. It is often the ego that creates barriers and a sense of separation; it is this that really creates a sense of loneliness. It reminded me of a post by Shane on the difference between love and emotional attachment
  • Another article I liked very much recently is How To Find Your True purpose by Todd at We The Change. I think it asks very thoughtful questions and doesn’t overcomplicate the essential process of self inquiry and self discovery.
  • Sumangali wrote a good post – 7 Surprising things that are good for your health. – good news for chocolate lovers!

Thanks

Thanks to all our commentators, especially Chris Cade of Spiritual Short Stories, whose comment on The Art of Forgiveness was worthy of a post by itself.

Random Links

If you are looking for a really good laugh, I can highly recommend this British film classic staring Peter Sellers and a plethora of stars. – The Wrong Arm of the Law had me laughing all the way through.

Photo by: Tejvan, Oxford Botanic Gardens

3 thoughts on “Meditation and Compassion”

  1. Thanks for the mention, Tejvan!

    I had never thought about the relationship of meditation and compassion, but it makes perfect sense now that you mention it.

    In the article that you cited it says “Although the research does not prove that compassion can be learned,” I think that the answer to whether or not that’s possible depends on a matter of perspective.

    There’s a lot of animal-inmate programs, but one in particular took maximum security inmates who had committed brutal violent crimes and gave them the ability to “adopt” an animal. If they adopted, they would be fully responsible for caring for the people.

    At the end of the program, what was noted was that the inmates had learned a great deal of compassion, and many of their hardened ways had been worn down. Long story short – they realized that caring for animals was an amazing rehabilitation tool.

    So the question begs – did the people learn compassion by caring for the animals, or was it just that the animals helped the inmates get in touch with the compassion that already existed within them from birth?

    Food for thought… 🙂

    Also an FYI, I tried to signup for the email udpates but the page takes me to a page not found error.

  2. I woke up today in a bad mood but after finding this site my mood got better.

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